| Here’s a look at today's tech briefing: - Apple eclipses Microsoft to become world's most valuable company.
- EU to impose more tariffs on Chinese EV imports.
- X to hide 'likes' for everyone by default.
- Best Buy lays off additional employees.
- Elon Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI.
- AWS to invest in Taiwan.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Apple became the world's most valuable company on Wednesday, reclaiming the title from Microsoft. Apple reached a $3.3 trillion market cap today, two days after it announced its major push into generative AI across apps and devices. More: - "Apple Intelligence," its suite of generative AI features, is coming to future operating systems for iPhones, Macs, and iPads.
- A day after announcing its AI, Apple stock rose 7% on Tuesday, reaching a record high.
- Shares continued to climb on Wednesday, pushing Apple's market cap above Microsoft's $3.2 trillion.
- Analysts note that the infusion of AI could re-invigorate iPhone sales, which fell nearly 10% during the March quarter.
- The personalized features can summarize and rewrite text, generate images and custom emoji, transcribe calls, solve math problems, and more.
Zoom out: - Apple also became the first trillion-dollar brand today, topping Kantar BrandZ's 2024 Global Brands Report for the third year alongside Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
- "This year, brands investing in AI are seeing remarkable gains by reaping the benefits of enhanced customer experience," the report noted.
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| 2 | | The European Union plans to impose more tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, impacting automakers including BYD, Geely, and SAIC. The move comes a month after the U.S. announced its own major tariff rate hikes on Chinese EV imports. More: - The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, will impose the extra duties around July 4.
- The move comes after an EU investigation found Chinese EV imports benefit "heavily from unfair subsidies" and could threaten EV makers in Europe.
- Duties will vary based on automakers' cooperation with the probe, with SAIC Motor Corp. facing the highest tariff increase of 38.1%, raising its levy to 48%.
- BYD faces an extra 17.4% levy, and Geely an additional 20% charge.
Zoom out: - In the U.S., the tariff rate for Chinese EV imports will soar from 25% to 100% this year — a move designed to protect U.S. manufacturers.
- China demanded the U.S. revoke the tariffs and vowed to take firm measures to protect its interests.
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| 3 | | Elon Musk's X platform is making private "likes" the default for all users. Previously only available to paid users, the hidden likes are "important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so," Musk wrote in a post. More: - With the change, only the user and the post's publisher will know when a user likes a post.
- Others can only see the total "like" count but not individual names.
- X began allowing paid subscribers to hide their likes last summer, while others have still had a public "likes" page.
- A company analysis found that the premium users who hid likes liked "significantly" more posts versus those who didn't.
Zoom out: - Many X users fear liking "edgy" content due to potential backlash "from trolls, or to protect their public image," wrote X's director of engineering, Haofei Wang.
- The move could boost engagement as the likes inform X's "For you" algorithm, which can recommend better content and keep users coming back.
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| 4 | | Best Buy laid off an unspecified number of sales employees this week as it deals with weaker consumer electronics sales, The Verge reports. The move comes four months after CEO Corie Barry warned of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures. More: - The latest job cuts primarily targeted in-home sales roles, known as designers, who help customers choose products for their homes, according to The Verge.
- Best Buy also changed the pay structure of its in-store sales workers known as "consultants."
- Some remaining consultants and designers are being moved to new "Premium Designer" roles.
Zoom out: - Barry announced the restructuring plan in February to stabilize the business amid declining sales.
- Best Buy's Geek Squad faced mass layoffs in April, with the number of affected employees undisclosed.
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| 5 | | Elon Musk dropped a lawsuit against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, without providing a reason. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI who is no longer involved, had accused OpenAI of prioritizing profits over its original mission to benefit humanity. More: - Musk's attorneys are asking a court to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, allowing for the possibility of refiling it in the future.
- The attorneys did not provide a reason for the withdrawal.
- The lawsuit accused OpenAI, which formed as a non-profit for open-source AI, of being a "closed-source de facto subsidiary" of Microsoft and driven by commercial purpose rather than safety.
- In response, OpenAI shared emails where Musk, as a co-founder, supported raising more funds and merging OpenAI with Tesla.
Zoom out: - Musk left OpenAI in 2018 and formed his own for-profit AI startup, truexAI, last year.
- Since then, OpenAI's valuation has soared from virtually zero to over $80B.
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| 6 | | Amazon Web Services will open an infrastructure region in Taiwan by early 2025 and invest billions in the country over 15 years. An AWS region refers to a cluster of data centers in a specific area. More: - AWS said it aims to address a strong demand for cloud services in the Asia-Pacific.
- With the new region, organizations will be able to tap into "advanced AWS technologies" such as storage, computing, databases, analytics, and AI, according to AWS VP Prasad Kalyanaraman.
- Each AWS region has separate "Availability Zones" with their own power, cooling, and security.
- Taiwan's region will debut with three Availability Zones, expanding AWS's network to 108 zones.
Zoom out: - AWS is planning 21 more zones across seven regions in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Europe.
- The cloud provider is also investing an additional $9B over five years to expand its infrastructure and services in Singapore.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: *This is sponsored content | | | |
 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Beth Duckett | |
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